The amount of liquid dispensed from liquid containers needs to be monitored for many endeavors today. For instance, the management of establishments has long found it necessary to carefully monitor the relationship between liquor dispensed and receipts by controlling the quantity of liquor dispensed from a specific bottle and recording the sale.
A few systems have been proposed to date for measuring and recording the amount of liquid dispensed from liquid containers. One such system includes a spout that is configured to attach to an opening of a liquid container. This spout also uses a portion-control mechanism to control the desired amount of liquid poured from the liquid container. The spout includes a radio transmitter for emitting signals containing activity information. A receiver receives the transmitted signals, and provides these signals to a computer at the establishment that processes the signals into text for viewing.
FIG. 1 shows side-cross sectional view of a free-pour spout shown in US2004/0210405 or related U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,166. This spout is used to be mounted on an open orifice of a liquid container and measures the amount of liquid poured from the liquid container. The spout includes a rigid fluid-flow passageway 305, a breather tube 310, a printed circuit board (PCB) 315 with a number of electronic components, a battery (not shown), an LED (not shown), and an engage switch 340 (including seal/sense switch 350, a spring-biased button 345). Reference numeral 306 shows the direction of fluid flow. The dimensions of the fluid-flow passageway are specifically selected to ensure laminar fluid flow of liquid when the liquid-container (and hence the spout) are inclined at a certain angle (e.g., 20 degrees) past the horizontal axis of the liquid-container. It also has a detection circuit that detects fluid flow through the passageway. In addition, this spout has a measuring circuit that generates data relating to fluid flow when the detection circuit detects fluid flow through the passageway.
In US2004/0210405, a RF Transceiver is provided to communicate with an outside master unit for dispensing data. To measure the pour, a detection circuit is provided to detect a pour event. US2004/0210405 also discloses a breather tube that provides an air inlet (vent) 307 that allows better fluid flow through the passageway. An engage switch (bottle presence bottom) is formed by an on-off button that springs up and seals a sense switch on the PCB when the bottom portion is inserted into a liquid container. When the bottom portion is removed from the liquid container, the on-off button springs back and thereby opens the sense switch.
The spout in U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,166 is free-pour, and it only measures the amount of liquid poured. There is, however, a need to pour the liquid in a controlled and predetermined amount. To avoid excess liquid being poured, an additional control unit outside is necessary to stop it. For example, the system includes an external computer that gathers the data collected by the local computers of the establishments monitored by the system. In some embodiments, the external computer is located outside of all the establishments, while in other embodiments the computer is located within one of the establishments. Even with this additional control unit outside, due to a control time lapse and difference in position between detection and control, it is unlikely to have precise control in pouring of liquid.
US2005/0263547 describes a pouring stopper. In this pouring stopper, a magnetic force within the stopper is provided by a coil which affects an armature so that a gasket at both ends of the rod may be caused to assume two positions. The first position allows filling of liquid from a bottle into a liquid chamber, and the second position is intended to empty the liquid chamber. The magnet arrangement itself, which consists of a coil and a spring-biased armature, is seated in an extension of the liquid chamber. The coil itself is seated externally on a bottle holder, which means that the pouring stopper cannot be used for hand pouring.
WO2007/144002 discloses a pouring stopper for a container, the pouring stopper being opened and closed on the basis of a magnetizable rod or plate moved by a coil. The coil and the magnetizable rod or plate are disposed within the liquid chamber. However, the magnetizable rod and coil use power the entire time that the spout is open, which requires high power consumption. Additionally, the electronic parts are not liquid proof, risking the chance that the liquid may wet or dampen them.
However, due to the large size of the magnetizable rod and the coil to move the magnetizable rod, there is a need for a compact and simple pour apparatus that measures the amount of dispensed liquid in a controlled fashion without requiring manual activation.
Moreover, due to the compact and non-disassemble-able nature of the spout in U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,166, when the energy of the battery is used up, the entire spout should be disposed. Therefore, there is also a need to provide options that allow for reuse of the spout. The embodiments described herein provide options for recharging the battery.
Additionally, it would be advantageous to provide a pouring device with one or more features that allow the user/bartender to confirm the size of the selected pour size. For example, there may be instances when a particular drink calls for a regular pour, but other drinks (or consumer preferences) call for an under pour or over pour. The features described below provide an improved indicator system that quickly and easily conveys the selected pour amount, prior to the pouring event.
Further, it would also be advantageous to provide a pouring device with one or more features that ease attachment and removal of the pouring device to a liquid container (such as bottle with a spout).